[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Conference 2014 location decision

[Bence Damokos]

Dear all,

Following considerable deliberation it is with great pleasure that we
announce that the Location Committee has selected Berlin as the location
for the 2014 Wikimedia Conference.

We received a total of four bids from Germany, India, Italy and Sweden. In
selecting the Berlin location we have taken into consideration the
experience and capacity of the team; the travel time and cost for
attendees; the cost of hosting the conference; and the facilities and room
configuration of the proposed venues.

Throughout our deliberations we kept an open mind towards having the
conference in a new location/country, and we have appreciated the compact
solutions offered by having all participants close to each other or staying
at the same lodging; however, we felt that the Berlin bid provides – by a
small margin – the best combination of price, distance and experience this
year.

We thank all the organisations that have entered a bid for their time and
effort and we hope that even if they were not selected this year, they can
make use of the experience when they organise other meetings that will
further the Wikimedia mission.

In closing, we would like to thank all Wikimedia organisations for placing
their trust in this process and committee, which was an interesting
experience for all of us. In the hope that the Wikimedia organisations keep
the hosting choice an open process, we would like to propose a number of
potential process improvements[1], and we would invite all the bidders and
other interested parties to provide their own feedback.

Best regards,

Asaf Bartov, Bence Damokos, Arnau Duran, Itzik Edri, Mike Peel, Osmar
Valdebenito, Ilario Valdelli
Wikimedia Conference 2014 Location Committee

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Bids/Learnings